Tenzing Rock
Darjeeling
Tenzing Rock, a gigantic natural rock in Darjeeling is named after Tenzing Norgay, the man who created history by climbing the Everest first time along with Edmund Hillary in 1953.;Opposite to this is the Gombu Rock named after Nawang Gombu, nephew of Tenzing who was the first person to climb the Everest twice, once in 1963 and then in 65. He took over as the Director of Field Training at Himalayan Mountaineering Institute after Tenzing retired in 1976.</div><div>Both these rocks are used for rock climbing training by HMI.</div><div><br></div><div>There is a board right on top of the Tenzing Rock that says “HMI Rock Climbing Training Areaâ€. While facing the Tenzing Rock, the left side or the left face of the rock is used by the professional rock climbers and the trainees. Most tourists make a mistake of going over to the right side where the approach to the top of another parallel rock is quite shorter.Actually the right face of the rock can be used by amateur climbers or even tourists for climbing. However one needs to take help of guides and pay some nominal fee. The gradient of the right face is gentle and surface is easier for climbing.The steep and almost vertical rock comes up from far below and rises high above the road level. Tenzing himself used to practice climbing on this rock. During a visit of erstwhile Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Tenzing demonstrated a climb on this rock without any safety equipment.;During and after the monsoon, the surface of the both rock get covered with slippery moss that makes it even more difficult to climb. Often the moss is cleaned up and powders sprayed on the surface to circumvent this problem. There are many temporary stalls put up by the local Nepali vendors on that side selling tea, momos (dumplings) etc. They set up tables under a large shade.
